Gregory Nagy’s Concepts of the Hero in Greek Civilization, 2010
As part of its educational mission, CHS offers free access to all the resources associated with a distance learning course taught by Center Director Gregory Nagy–including multimedia lectures and discussions, audio recordings, lecture notes, and the complete collection of readings. Concepts of the Hero in Greek Civilization provides an engaging introduction to the major themes of ancient Greek myth, cult, and poetics.
The true “hero” of this course is the logos or “word” of logical reasoning, as activated by Socratic dialogue. The logos of dialogue requires careful thinking, realized in close reading and reflective writing. The last “word” to be read in the course will come from Plato’s memories of the last days of Socrates.
These memories depend on a thorough understanding of the concept of the hero in all its varieties throughout the history of Greek civilization. This course is driven by a sequence of dialogues that lead to such an understanding, guiding the attentive reader through many of the major works of the ancient Greek Classics. All readings are in translation and include the epics of Homer, seven tragedies, two Platonic dialogues, and the dialogue On Heroes by Philostratus.
Below you will find the resources for the 2010 edition. To access videos and resources from other years, visit the CHS Educational Resources page.
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Primary Source for Readings
Sourcebook, Vol. 1 (SB1)–PDF download
Sourcebook, Vol. 2 (SB2)–PDF download
additional resources and readings available online via the CHS website, as linked
Week One
Dialogue 01: Introduction (High Res Video | Low Res Video)
Proseminar 01: Helen’s View from the Wall of Troy (High Res Video | Low Res Video)
Reading: “Introduction 1: Facts about the ‘Heroes’ course”; “Introduction 2: Relevant facts about ancient Greek history”; “Introduction to the Homeric Iliad and Odyssey” (SB1).
Week Two
Proseminar: Andromache’s First Lament (High Res Video| Low Res Video)
Dialogue 02: Iliad/Odyssey (High Res Video | Low Res Video)
Section: Andromache’s Lament (High Res Video | Low Res Video)
Reading: “Introduction 3: The Epic Hero”; Hoffmann, “The Sand-Man” (English), Der Sandmann (German)
Week Three
Dialogue 03: Iliad/Odyssey (High Res Video | Low Res Video)
Proseminar: Kleopatra’s Lament (High Res Video | Low Res Video)
Tales of Hoffman (complete film with commentary by Gregory Nagy)
Dialogue 04: Iliad/Odyssey (High Res Video | Low Res Video)
Section: Kleopatra’s Lament (Low Res Video)
Reading: Iliad, scrolls I–VIII (SB1); selections from Alcman and Sappho (SB1); Nagy, “Lyric And Greek Myth” and “Did Sappho And Alcaeus Ever Meet?”
Week Four
Dialogue 05: Iliad/Odyssey (High Res Video| Low Res Video)
Proseminar: Sappho and Patroklos (High Res Video | Low Res Video)
Dialogue 06: Iliad/Odyssey (High Res Video | Low Res Video)
Section: Sappho and Patroklos (Low Res Video)
Reading: Iliad, scrolls IX–XVII (SB1); Nagy, “Homer And Greek Myth.”
Week Five
Dialogue 07: Iliad/Odyssey (High Res Video | Low Res Video)
Proseminar: The Apobatic Moment (High Res Video| Low Res Video)
Dialogue 08: Iliad/Odyssey (High Res Video | Low Res Video)
Section: The Apobatic Moment (Low Res Video)
Reading: Iliad, scrolls XVIII–XXIV (SB1).
Week Six
Dialogue 09: Iliad/Odyssey (High Res Video| Low Res Video)
Proseminar: The Singing of Demodokos (High Res Video | Low Res Video)
Dialogue 10: Iliad/Odyssey (High Res Video | Low Res Video)
Section: The Song of Demodokos (Low Res Video)
Reading: Odyssey, scrolls i–xii (SB1); Proclus, Summaries of the Epic Cycle (SB1); review second half of Nagy, “Homer And Greek Myth” (about the Odyssey).
Week Seven
Proseminar: A Hero’s End and Beginning (High Res Video | Low Res Video)
Dialogue 11: Iliad/Odyssey (High Res Video | Low Res Video)
Section: A Hero’s End and Beginning (Low Res Video)
Reading: Odyssey, scrolls xiii–xvi (SB1).
Week Eight
Dialogue 11.5: Review
Proseminar: Philostratus (recorded w/o 10-12) (High Res Video | Low Res Video)
Dialogue 12: Philostratus (High Res Video | Low Res Video)
Section: Philostratus, On Heroes, §§ 51.12, 53.8–11s, (Low Res Video)
Reading: Odyssey, scrolls xvi–xxiv (SB1).
Week Nine
Dialogue 13: Herodotus (High Res Video | Low Res Video)
Proseminar: Hesiod (High Res Video | Low Res Video)
Dialogue 14: Hesiod and Theognis (High Res Video | Low Res Video)
Section: Hesiod, Works and Days, 225–264 (Low Res Video)
Reading: Selections from Philostratus, On Heroes (1.1–16.6; 25.1–25.16; 44.5–54.1; Nagy’s introduction to On Heroes is optional), Hesiod (Theogony, lines 1–115; Works & Days, lines 1–286) (SB2), and Herodotus (Histories, 1.1–91; 9.114–122) (SB2); review, Nagy, “The Epic Hero.”
Week Ten
Dialogue 15: Aeschylus (High Res Video | Low Res Video)
Proseminar: Visions of Dikē (High Res Video | Low Res Video)
Dialogue 16: Aeschylus (High Res Video | Low Res Video)
Section: Aeschylus: Visions of Dikē (Low Res Video)
Reading: Aeschylus, Oresteia: Agamemnon, Libation-Bearers, Eumenides (SB2).
Week Eleven
Dialogue 17: Sophocles (High Res Video | Low Res Video)
Dialogue 18: Sophocles (High Res Video | Low Res Video)
Reading: Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus, Oedipus Tyrannus (SB2).
Week Twelve
Dialogue 19: Euripides (High Res Video | Low Res Video)
Proseminar: Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus (High Res Video | Low Res Video)
Dialogue 20: Euripides (High Res Video | Low Res Video)
Section: Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus (Low Res Video)
Reading: Euripides, Hippolytus, Bacchae (SB2).
Week Thirteen
Dialogue 21: Plato (High Res Video| Low Res Video)
Dialogue 22: on Aeschylus and Pindar (High Res Video| Low Res Video)
Reading: Plato, Apology (SB2); Pindar, Pythian 8 (SB1); “Key Passages Relevant to the Poetics of Pindar” (SB1).
Week Fourteen
Dialogue 23: Plato (High Res Video | Low Res Video)
Proseminar: Euripides, Bacchae (High Res Video | Low Res Video)
Dialogue 24: The Hero as Savior (High Res Video | Low Res Video)
Section: Euripides, Bacchae (Low Res Video)
Reading: Plato, Phaedo (SB2).
Pingback: Francophone Scholarship | kleos@CHS
I am so blessed to have found this course. To Professor Nagy and his staff, I extend a heartfelt thanks. Reading Homer through your eyes has been a wonderful, beautiful, and, sometimes sorrowful, experience. There have been moments of insight that have made smile and others that have reduced me to tears. And, yes, just like Roberta Flack, I am stunned to hear him “singing my life with his words”, killing me softly, as Sappho surely did on nights so long ago . . .
Dear Mr. Figueroa, thank you for your enthusiasm for Heroes and for sending this beautiful message. I am sharing it with Prof. Nagy and the Heroes team!! If you’ve finished going through all the course materials and are ready for more, let me know and I’ll point you towards more beautiful scholarship. You may want to check out the CHS website (chs.harvard.edu) for more scholarship on Homer and/or follow the Center for Hellenic Studies on Facebook (http://http://www.facebook.com/centerforhellenicstudies) where we post notices about new publications and resources of interest. So Heroes is just the beginning, but I think you’ll find it rewards those to revisit the material as they keep learning. The more I learn and read, the better it gets!! Keep reading and watching and let us know what you think!! Best, Claudia
PS If you’re a Homer fan like me, you might like to hear about our recent work on the deluxe medieval manuscript of the Iliad known as the Venetus A. Here’s an Emmy-nominated documentary about the digitization of this treasure: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ri6X1Dz4Ycg
Here’s a trailer for the documentary: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mu_6onOVxZ8
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How lovely is this peak in the clouds above the polis,
taken to the meta level and activating the look of the world,
who can understand the experience of walking this staircase?
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This looks like an amazing resource and I look forward to going through all the readings and videos! I was wondering, however, if you could provide a copy of Der Sandmann in German, because unfortunately, both of the links go to the English version.
Thanks for all this work though! I think this is a great thing to do for promoting education and interest in the Classics!
Dear M,
Thank you so much for your message. I have fixed the link to the German edition. But I have even more exciting news to share! This course is now being offered through HarvadX. It is free and will begin on March 13th. Here’s a link to the site: https://www.edx.org/courses/HarvardX/CB22x/2013_Spring/about
I hope you will join us!! Best, Claudia